THE question of the succession to Lenin became actual in 1922 in consequence of his long illness. It was obvious that
his work could not be carried on by any particular individual
or individuals, but that his heir must be the Bolshevik Party
as a whole. In practice this would mean the government of
the 'Old Guard', who in the years succeeding to 1903 had
built up the Party in common with Lenin. Lenin's cloak thus
fell upon the shoulders of Zinoviev and Kamenev. Since,
however, they were both politicians and ideologues, they
needed the assistance of a practical organizer. Such a one
was found in Stalin. Stalin had for years been a member of
the Party and was a Georgian, or Grusian (as they called
themselves), from the Caucasus. The Georgians have contributed a whole series of brilliant men to the Russian revolutionary and Socialist movement. There were many Georgians
among the influential Mensheviks in 1917. In the revolutionary movement in the days of the Tsars nationality played
no part and Great Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Poles, Letts,
and Georgians worked together with no thought save of the
common cause.

Stalin is an educated Russian revolutionary of the pre-War
type. The fact that he belonged by blood to the small nation
of Georgians was at the most responsible for his special
interest in the problem of Socialism and Nationalism. It is
an exaggeration to connect Stalin in any way with Circassian
romances. In February 1913, in a letter written from Galicia
to Maxim Gorki, Lenin said that he agreed with his opinion
that it was essential to take Nationalism seriously. Lenin
continued: 'We have here a fine type of Grusian' working
on a great study of the question of nationalities for which he
has collected the entire Austrian material. The 'Grusian'
was Stalin, who had just succeeded in escaping from Siberia
and who lived for a time in Cracow and Vienna. After 1917 Stalin gradually became more and more prominent as an
organizer. In the spring of 1917 he still belonged to the

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